Page 97 of Tempted By the Alpha Outlaw

I close my eyes, pressing my fingers into my temples.

“I don’t know what to do.”

Peaches hums. “Well, let’s start simple. What do you want to do?”

I swallow, my throat tight.

I don’t know how to answer that.

Because part of me wants to forget, to let the pack’s anger wash over me until there’s nothing left but resolve. Until I can convince myself that what I felt for Colt wasn’t real, that it was just the mate bond, just my own foolishness that led me here.

But I know better.

I know what’s real.

I know.

I squeeze my eyes shut. “I want him to not have lied to me,” I whisper.

Peaches lets out a slow breath, tilting her head back to stare at the sky. “Yeah,” she says after a moment. “I bet he wishes that too.”

That knocks me sideways.

I snap my gaze to her, expecting her to be joking, but her expression is thoughtful, her fingers idly twisting in the hem of her dress.

“You believe him?” I ask, barely able to keep the disbelief out of my voice. “After everything?”

Peaches turns her gaze to me. “I believe he didn’t go through with it,” she says. “I believe he could’ve handed me over a dozen times and didn’t. I believe he’s a fucking idiot who made the worst mistake of his life the second he walked into this den with a bounty on my head.”

She lets out a humorless laugh. “And I believe that the way he looks at you isn’t a lie.”

My breath catches in my throat.

Peaches exhales, rolling her shoulders like she’s shaking off a weight. “Magnolia, I know what it’s like to feel trapped. To think the world is out to get you, to think there’s no way out but through.” She tilts her head, watching me. “And I know what it’s like to be saved by the last person you expected.”

I don’t know what to say to that.

She sighs, dragging a hand through her hair. “I’m not sayin’ you have to forgive him. I’m not even sayin’ you should.” She fixes me with a steady look. “But if I can sit here, knowing what I know—if I can look at you and still see the way he worships the ground you walk on—then maybe you should ask yourself why you’re runnin’ so hard from what you already know.”

I shake my head, my chest too tight. “It’s not that simple.”

“No,” she agrees. “It never is.”

Silence stretches between us, thick and charged.

Then Peaches lets out a huff, shaking her head. “You know,” she says, stretching her legs out in front of her, “for all the stupid shit he did, I’ll give him one thing.”

I glance at her, wary. “What’s that?”

She grins, all teeth. “The man’s got taste.”

Despite everything, despite the ache in my chest and the doubt still clawing at my ribs, a laugh snorts out of me.

Peaches beams, nudging me with her foot. “There she is.”

I shake my head, dragging a hand over my face. “I hate you.”

“You love me,” she corrects.

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